April 15, 2022, marks the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson integrating Major League Baseball. As one of the first and most visible institutions to accept African Americans on relative terms of equality, baseball became viewed as a model for the nation—providing a blueprint for future widespread integration. This story highlights two important objects from the inaugural, impactful 1947 baseball season: a pinback button and a Time magazine cover featuring Jackie Robinson.

As 2022 approaches, we here at the National Museum of African American history and Culture pause to reflect on the lives of those we have lost in 2021. As we mourn their passing we must also preserve the incalculable contributions they have made to American history through their deeds and words.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the world’s biggest stage for athletes. For many African Americans, this high level of visibility has become a platform not just for their talents and abilities, but also for their community values, their advocacy, and their voices.

HBCU campuses have always been places that foster the development and achievement of African Americans. The historic election of U.S. Vice President–elect Kamala Harris also has generated significant attention.

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) began to spread throughout the South and East after the Civil War. They turned to sports as a means to develop leaders and to join a growing trend throughout higher education in the mid-to-late 1800s: the widespread inclusion of sports teams on college campuses.

In the early 1900s many African American communities embraced women’s basketball. African Americans saw sports as a way to demonstrate character, discipline and excellence.

Even as more mainstream sports such as baseball, football, and basketball began to accept black competitors, golf and tennis remained closed to most African Americans. These sports helped convey social status, and players prided themselves on refined competition characterized by emotional control and gentlemanly and ladylike behavior. Because of these sports’ close association with cultural elites, African American tennis players and golfers had to cross boundaries that were not present in other sports.

Golf evolved largely as a country club sport in the United States, and African Americans were barred from most memberships.

A group of 59 game-changing youth from across the U.S. got the surprise of a lifetime on Tuesday: a sneak peek at one of the museum’s latest additions, the LeBron James’ Nike EQUALITY P.E.

Hosted by the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Mascots, Myths, Monuments and Memory, will examine the history and contested memory of racialized mascots, Civil War monuments, and other public memorials.